East Burke girls use late run for victory

Credit: Kim Hughes | The News Herald

East Burke High player Alicro Byrd, No.10, dribbles past Freedom High player Tooey Pearson, No.12, during Friday night's game at East Burke. East Burke girl's won 44-40.

By: Jason Baker | sports@morganton.com
Published: December 06, 2009

ICARD --

Historically, there have been many county rivalry battles in the Northwestern 4A conference between Freedom and East Burke. This time around, the Lady Patriots and the Lady Cavaliers faced off as non-conference opponents. East Burke came back from a 6-point, 36-30, deficit in the fourth quarter to take round one 44-40.
"We had a lot of problems this year, like not coming out and playing hard-nosed basketball in the second half, like we did in the first half," said East Burke head coach Katie Gravel. "We played together as a team and a few players stepped up tonight. The little things helped us win our ball game tonight."
The Lady Patriots got rolling in the opening quarter, going on a 7-2 run, off a 3-pointer from Jewel Walker and inside baskets by Chelsea "CC" Connelly. That run made Gravel call a timeout for a breather and to draw up plays on the board. Out of the timeout, Yolanda "Yo-Yo" Connelly got off a 3-pointer continuing Freedom's run at 10-2. The Lady Cavs, off a layup from Brittany Pennell and a 3-pointer from Alicia Byrd, got Freedom's lead cut to 12-7. Gravel, after a wide-open layup from CC Connelly, called another timeout before the opening quarter came to a close. That timeout did bring some encouragement for East Burke with Byrd getting off more points, with Freedom leading 16-12 after one quarter.
In the next quarter, Paige Moore and Dakota Crapps, for East Burke and Walker and Keonna Lewis, for Freedom, led in early scoring to keep the score close. Brittiany Roberts, getting her first points with a 3-pointer, extended Freedom's lead to 24-19. Lewis and Crapps continued to lead the scoring for their respective teams. The Lady Patriots led by 5, 26-21, at the half.
With the start of the second half, Yo-Yo Connelly got the scoring started with two back-to-back layups. On Freedom's next possession, Emily Greene was able to block a shot and get a layup of her own on the other end. Byrd got more Lady Cavs points on the board with a 2-point shot and a 3-pointer. The Lady Patriots led by six, 36-30, after three quarters.
The Lady Cavs made the comeback in the fourth quarter, starting with two free-throws from Taylor Newman and a layup from Crapps, cutting Freedom's lead to 3, 37-34. Another East Burke layup from Greene cut Freedom's lead down some more to 1 and Pennell's layup gave East Burke their first lead of the game, 38-37. East Burke outscored Freedom 14-4, in that quarter, to clinch the victory.
"This game is always going to be a rivalry game. I felt they (Freedom) did a great job in the fourth quarter, but we struggled from the free-throw line, and that's what we need to work on," said Freedom head coach Amber Fox. "We did some good things but it appears we disappear offensively in the fourth quarter."
CC Connelly led Freedom scorers with 12 points and Byrd, before fouling out, led East Burke scorers with 18 points.
Freedom (2-2) heads to McDowell High and East Burke (2-1) heads to South Caldwell High next Tuesday.

East Burke girls use late run for victory

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